


what are you waiting for (someone could love you more)

by cantfuckinbelievethis



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: M/M, Winter Screw, but mainly a hopeful piece, chowder is DONE coddling his friends, lil bit of angst, personal growth from all!!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-08
Updated: 2019-10-24
Packaged: 2020-11-27 14:44:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,615
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20950112
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cantfuckinbelievethis/pseuds/cantfuckinbelievethis
Summary: Today was the day.It was their final year at Samwell, and that meant it was their last Winter Screw ever.Today was a week before Winter Screw, and Dex had left it so long already, he had to do it today. No one else had asked yet, so Dex was going to be the one to ask Derek Nurse to Winter Screw.Or: Dex wants to ask Nursey to Winter Screw, but he now has some competition





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I probably am done posting fan fic after this one, but I had a bit of inspiration tonight all of a sudden! Enjoy :)

Today was the day.   
  
It was their final year at Samwell, and that meant it was their last Winter Screw ever.   
  
Today was a week before Winter Screw, and Dex had left it so long already, he had to do it today. No one else had asked yet, so Dex was going to be the one to ask Derek Nurse to Winter Screw.   
  
Dex didn’t always have a crush on Nursey — contrary to popular belief. It was actually a quite recent development. He certainly didn’t have a crush when they lived together for that brief period of time before Dex moved into the basement to get away from him. No, it seemed distance made the heart grow fonder and the less they were all up in each other’s space, the more Dex realised he liked Nursey.   
  
It seemed like a long string of events led him here. First, when Chowder finally snapped at Dex himself, and told him to check his privilege. It was probably a number of reasons that Dex decided to make a change, but mainly it was the fact that _Christopher Chow_ had put his goalie face on and told Dex he wouldn’t continue to be his friend otherwise.   
  
Shocked into the reality that maybe he was the one in the wrong, he went to Shitty for suggestions on how to improve. Not that Shitty — a white, rich, cis, hetero (?), abled male — was the beacon of all things woke, but Dex knew that Shitty had to do some work to get where he was, and so maybe he had some ideas. Shitty directed him to a group on campus that was literally called “Check Your Privilege, Please!”   
  
He, Cait, and Bitty — who also realised that maybe they had some growing to do — all attended their first meeting together. It was uncomfortable and nerve-wracking, and also kind of made him drown in guilt, but he forced himself to put down his defences and remember Chowder’s hurt expression as he pushed through it. And, on some level, he remembered Nursey’s many expressions of hurt that broke through his “chill” exterior at times.   
  
Unfortunately, you did have to pay to access some of the extra resources the group suggested, but Dex figured it was fair enough for their emotional labour, and saved up to get a discounted bundle of PDFs to go through. They ended up on a stack on his bedside table, right on top of the self-help homework his campus therapist gave him.   
  
The second thing was Chowder forcing Dex to start attending Nursey’s poetry readings with him. Chowder wanted to show his support, and he suggested that maybe hearing Nursey’s poetry would help Dex understand him better. And, sure, he hated every second of it, but he also learnt a lot about what Nursey liked, what he went through, and his feelings about things.   
  
What really got him, though, was when Nursey read out a poem, and it was suspiciously familiar. It told of a friendship forged in fire and fury. Of getting better and getting worse, and persisting anyway because surely there was a diamond amongst all that rough. That’s when he realised how hard Nursey was also trying.   
  
After that, he kept an eye on Nursey, and noticed how he stopped himself before making an assumption that anyone could throw money around, or that everyone had had the same experiences he had had as a rich person.   
  
They grew.   
  
Admittedly, Dex had much more growing to do than Nursey, but they both tried. However, that still didn’t mean they didn’t annoy the _shit_ out of each other.   
  
Finally, the last big bump in the string of events that led him to having an embarrassing crush on Nursey was when Dex came out to the team the year before. Bitty had helped him as his captain, and his therapist had helped him with self-acceptance. He may not have been able to be who he was at home, but at Samwell, he could be big ol’ gay William Poindexter, and no one cared.   
  
It was right after he had moved down into the basement, and he knew Nursey was still smarting from the incident, but he stood up and gave Dex a hug anyway.   
  
Since then, Dex was a mess over Derek Nurse. He always knew Nursey was ridiculously gorgeous, but now he thought about his poetry and his smile and the way he wrapped his arm around Dex’s shoulder and the way he—   
  
Well, you get the picture.   
  
Regardless, it was now a week before Winter Screw, and Dex had worked his ass off to save up to buy two tickets, pay back Chowder for helping him out with a proper suit, and get the courage to finally ask.   
  
He was sitting in his last class of the day, tapping his foot and waiting for it to end so he could go ask Nursey to be his date to Winter Screw.   
  
Fuck.   
  
‘Will,’ a voice whispered to his left.   
  
Dex blinked, turning to look at Jake, who was someone else he had had a crush on at some point in his time throughout Samwell. The guy was pretty hot, and they liked a lot of the same things. Still, it soon fizzled out.   
  
‘Yeah?’   
  
‘You’re on the hockey team with Derek Nurse, right?’ Jake whispered.   
  
Dex nodded slowly, a sinking feeling in his stomach. ‘Yeah, we’re line partners.’   
  
‘Does he have a date to Winter Screw yet?’   
  
And…there it was. He should’ve asked earlier. There’s no way he would be able to measure up to Jake.   
  
‘Uh…no.’ Dex swallowed, trying to get some moisture in his dry throat. He wanted to scream, _YES, ME_! But he was the idiot who had left it too late, and maybe Jake was the love of Nursey’s life. He couldn’t stand in the way of that.   
  
Jake grinned. ‘Awesome.’   
  
Dex turned to face his professor again, feeling downtrodden. Finally, class ended and Jake told him he was going to go ask Nursey at that very moment. Dex gave him a weak thumbs up, and called Chowder, explaining this whole situation.   
  
‘Dex, have you not saved up _so much money_ to get those tickets and that suit?’ Chowder demanded.   
  
‘I mean…yes…’   
  
‘And have you not psyched yourself up to do this for weeks, endlessly irritating me?’ Cait chimed in, making Dex roll his eyes.   
  
‘Yes.’ Dex sighed. ‘But, I couldn’t ever measure up to Jake—’   
  
‘The hell with Jake!’ Chowder shouted.   
  
‘_Babe_,’ Cait gasped, sounding a little too turned on for Dex’s liking.   
  
‘No,’ Chowder sighed. ‘I mean, he’s nice and everything. But, for God’s sake Dex, don’t think it’s a failure before you’ve even asked. He hasn’t asked Nursey yet; you still have a chance!’   
  
‘But he’s on his way to ask Nursey _right now_,’ Dex stressed.   
  
‘But does he know that Nursey is currently hanging out outside the drama department, trying to get one of the best cups of coffee Samwell has to offer?’ Cait cooed.   
  
‘Wait, how—’   
  
‘Snapchat!’ Cait snapped. ‘Now, run!’   
  
Dex hung up on them and immediately began sprinting. He thanked God that Jake wasn’t an athlete and maybe Dex would beat him. However, his hopes were dashed when he finally got to the coffee cart and saw Jake standing there, talking to Nursey. Something rose up in him at that, and he couldn’t control himself.   
  
He rushed over anyway, interrupting rudely, ‘Nurse!’   
  
Nursey blinked, and then gave Dex a look that told him he was pretty unimpressed at his manners right now. ‘Dex. Hey. Jake’s just about to ask me something, can you wait?’   
  
Jake gave Dex a look as well, before continuing on, ‘Yeah…I was just going to ask, Derek, if you’d want to go to Winter Screw with me.’   
  
Nursey’s mouth hung open slightly in surprise. He glanced at Dex for a moment with an unreadable expression, before turning to Jake. ‘I’d love to.’   
  
Jake grinned, and Dex deflated. Looking between them and their smiles, he felt his heart sink into his stomach. He was too late. He’d missed his chance.   
  
‘Now, Dex, what do you want?’ Nursey asked, a strange look in his eye.   
  
‘Uh…I…’ Dex looked down at his hands, trying to figure out an excuse, and spotted his phone. ‘Chowder wanted to see if you wanted to do frog movie night tonight, but his phone was dead so he asked me to find you.’   
  
‘Oh. Sure.’   
  
Dex nodded, leaving Jake and Nursey as they started discussing their Winter Screw plans. After texting Chowder what had happened, his excuse about frog movie night, and how he would be skipping it tomorrow night to lick his wounds, he turned off his phone and went to wallow in his bungalow. 


	2. Chapter 2

Bitty beamed up at Dex as he fixed his green bowtie. ‘This is my lucky one! What I was wearing when I was voted captain.’ Once he was done, Bitty warmly rested his hand on Dex’s chest, giving it a grandma pat. 'And it goes wonderfully with your eyes.’

‘Thanks for letting me borrow it, Bitty.’ Dex smiled back awkwardly. ‘And…for coming down to see us.’

Bitty looked almost affronted. ’Of course! Y’all are _my frogs _— I had to see you go off to your final Winter Screw. But, Dex…are you sure you want to go on your own?’

‘Bit late now,’ was all Dex responded.

Bitty’s gaze turned sympathetic, and was about to say something, when Chowder and Cait called from downstairs. Exchanging smiles, they headed downstairs to meet them. Cait looked beautiful, and Chowder was simply dashing.

Dex laughed as Cait approached him, jumping into his arms. He span her around, before putting her down and holding her at arms length. ‘You look great!’

Cait grinned, going back over to Chowder’s arms. ‘So do you.’

‘You do, Dex!’ Chowder cried out gleefully.

There was a knock at the door, and they all exchanged a look. Cait and Chowder smiled sympathetically at Dex as Nursey rushed downstairs to open the door. Dex couldn’t look at him, not really wanting to see how beautiful he looked.

‘Yo, you look great!' Nursey told Jake as he let him in.

Dex glanced over and he too had to admit Jake looked great. He scanned his eyes down Jake’s fitted tux before looking down at his own and adjusting his bowtie.

‘Will!’ Jake greeted after whispering something flirty in Nursey’s ear. He came over to Dex with his arm around Nursey’s waist. ‘You look great, man.’

‘Yeah, you clean up nice, Poindexter.’ Nursey winked teasingly.

Dex smiled tightly in response. ‘Thanks. You guys look good too.’

‘Alright!’ Bitty interrupted awkwardly. ‘Time y’all headed off! Make sure to get a lot of pictures for me.’

Cait flashed Bitty her Polaroid camera. ‘I’m on it.’

* * *

The thing about Winter Screw was that it was mainly about the dancing, which was fine during a fast-paced song. When the music turned slow, and everyone started slow-dancing with one another, Dex hesitated awkwardly on the dance-floor. 

Cait and Chowder shared a sad look, and Cait held out her hand to him. ‘Dex, c’mon, dance with us!’

Dex laughed awkwardly. ‘No, it’s fine. You guys go ahead. I’m just—I’m just gonna…’ He threw a thumb over his shoulder before rushing off the dance-floor.

There were a few people sitting alone that Dex, if he were anyone else, could’ve asked to dance with. For Dex, that was too awkward and horrible to even consider. Instead, he made his way out of the hall and into a nearby corridor that led to the bathroom.

He leant against the wall, listening to the romantic music mute as he got further away. He slowly sank down to sit and play with the sleeve of his tux jacket.

Dex knew that there was no shame in coming alone, and that plenty of people did, but he couldn’t help but be disappointed with how his last Winter Screw had gone. He had wanted to take Nursey.

He wanted to blush like an idiot as he asked, and then grin like a bigger idiot when Nursey agreed.

He wanted to show Nursey that he could be a good date.

He wanted to be a big dork and pick Nursey up at his bedroom door.

He wanted to give Nursey a flower for him to pin to his lapel that Nursey would definitely end up tucking into his hair.

He wanted to dance with Nursey.

He wanted to kiss Nursey goodnight.

But he took too long. So, instead, he was going to sit on the floor in this corridor, and wait for this slow song to stop so he could go out there and spend the rest of the night pretending this didn’t bother him.

He sighed and pulled the flower he had gotten for Nursey out of his pocket. It had gotten all crumpled and looked pretty pathetic now. He was so busy staring at the flower and feeling sorry for himself that he didn’t hear footsteps approach until a shadow was blocking out the light coming from the dance.

He looked up to see Nursey standing there. He blinked in surprise as Nursey joined him on the floor.

‘What are you doing here all by your lonesome, Poindexter?’ Nursey asked. ‘Shouldn’t you be tearing up the dance-floor with some girl who thought she wanted to go stag?’

‘Shouldn’t you be dancing with your date?’ Dex shot back.

Nursey bit his lip, looking away. ‘Uh, well, Jake realised that I had my eye on someone else all night. Dude is a class act, though, didn’t even get annoyed or upset. Just admitted that he kind of knew and then went and asked a girl who was alone to dance.’

‘Oh.’ Dex almost huffed. Of course Nursey would not want Jake, but also not want Dex and want someone else entirely. There he was all jealous over Jake. ‘Why don’t you go ask them to dance, then?’

‘What’s that?’ Nursey asked, deflecting the question and nodding at the flower in Dex’s palm.

‘My, uh, original idea for a date ended up…going with someone else. This was the flower I was going to give them. It’s kind of messed up now, though.’

Nursey hummed in thought before plucking the flower out of Dex’s palm and tucking it behind his own ear. ‘It kind of matches my eyes…and your bowtie.’

‘That was the idea,’ Dex blurted, before his eyes widened at his own mistake.

Nursey half-grinned, eyes flickering down to Dex’s lips. ‘It was a good one, Will.’

Dex’s breath caught in his throat as Nursey leant in. Nursey stopped halfway, though, hesitating. Dex couldn’t help himself anymore and cupped Nursey’s cheek with his hand, pulling him in the rest of the way. Nursey grinned against Dex’s lips, making it very difficult to kiss.

Dex slowed down the kiss, causing Nursey to finally focus and kiss him back. Nursey gripped Dex’s jacket in his hand for a moment, before finally pulling away.

Breathing heavily for no particular reason, Nursey asked, ‘So…Can I have this dance, or what?’

Dex nodded, and Nursey stood up, holding his hand out to Dex. Dex took it and Nursey pulled him in, started spinning them around. The muffled music floated in down the corridor, and the dim light helped for Dex to see Nursey’s bright eyes. Dex smiled slightly, resting his forehead against Nursey’s as they shut their eyes and relaxed.

‘It’s gonna be really awkward with Jake in class now,’ Dex muttered, and Nursey laughed loudly.

And today.

Today was the day Dex properly fell in love with Derek Nurse.


End file.
